Coal news and updates

US coal trading volumes totalled 11.1 mil st in June, up 53.8% from May: CME

US coal futures trading volumes totaled roughly 11.1 million st in June, up 53.8% from the previous month, with the Central Appalachia rail (CSX) contract having its highest volumes since January 2014, according to the NYMEX monthly coal report released by the CME Group Monday.

At the same time, total open interest contracts at the end of the month totaled 9,181, down 32% from May, as many traders exited their positions during the month.

The CSX contract had the largest jump in volumes, to 8.1 million st from 6 million st in May. The month included the biggest single-day drop in open interest since at least August 2009 when at least two traders exited the market and cleared out their positions on June 12.

Total open interest fell to 4,702 contracts from 7,252 the prior day.

By the end of June, the CSX contract had 4,960 open positions, according to the CME Group.

Front-month pricing averaged $40.91/st for the CSX in June, down from $44.68/st in May and $59.18/st in June 2014, according to CME.

The Powder River Basin also saw an increase in volumes to roughly 2.8 million st from 840,000 st in May. The PRB's open interest declined to 3,694 contracts from 6,837 contracts in May.

The front-month PRB price averaged $9.99/st in June, slightly up from $9.83/st in May, but down from $12.88/st in June 2014.

CAPP Barge, which will be delisted by the CME Group and has no contracts offered past December 2016 due to declining interest, recorded about 275,900 st in trading volumes in June, down from 551,800 st in May.

Open interest in the CAPP barge contract declined to 527 contracts from 627 contracts the previous month.

source: http://www.platts.com